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Decreasing Number of Thai 1-Year Multiple Entry O Visas Issued

Transcript of the above video:

As the title to this video suggests we are discussing non-immigrant O visas here in the Kingdom, specifically multi-entry nonimmigrant O visas. For those who are not familiar with the Thai immigration system, a multiple-entry one year nonimmigrant visa allows the bearer to come and go from the kingdom of Thailand as much as they wish throughout the period of a 1-year duration and they will be admitted for 90 days of lawful status upon each entry.

In the past, one year multiple entry O visas were a pretty common occurrence. We would see them issued with the degree of frequency that was quite high in fact. Those who are simply married to Thai or had Thai children or in very rare circumstances had parents who are Thai, but the applicant in fact was not Thai, could generally see, especially out of the "Anglosphere" countries or the United States or Europe, you could see 1- year nonimmigrant O visas issued pretty straightforwardly especially where one could prove a marital or blood relationship with a Thai National within a degree of sanguinity that would be allowed under the rules; so basically children, parents who are married to a Thai you could go ahead and get a one-year O Visa.

In recent years, about the past 3 or 4 years, we have seen a marked decline in the number of O visa applications being accepted or I should say the number of multi-entry O Visas being accepted most notably the UK; many of the honorary consulates no longer were able to issue multi entry O Visas so the number of applications for such documents, travel documents, declined. The same was the case for the United States in recent years. So as of the time of this video, it is pretty difficult to see a 1-year multi-entry O Visa approved abroad. It is possible; there are various posts that still do it, although those posts are diminishing in scope as of the time of this video. In fact my personal assessment is, probably in the next 5 years I think the 1-year multi-entry O Visa maybe effectively phased out as to whether it is going to be issued with any degree of frequency as it has been in the past. Why is this? Well as with many of the videos on this channel we've discussed recent immigration clampdowns, crackdowns, tightening of immigration regulations, tightening of enforcement measures. There are other videos on this channel involving sham marriages which have occurred in Thailand for the sole purposes of maintaining long-term Thai Visa status. I think for all these reasons in the aggregate, Thai authorities have basically come to the conclusion that the 1-year multi-entry O Visa really doesn't serve the best interests of the Kingdom for no other reason I think than the Immigration Officers think there is probably a lack of oversight associated with such travel documents as one is simply admitted in non-immigrant status for a 90-day period upon admission into the Kingdom, and there really is no further follow-up with respect to that. Basically once you have a multi-entry O or a B whatever, you basically as your 90 days is coming to a close you basically run out of the country you come back in, you get another 90 days. Now yes, there is oversight in the sense that the immigration officer at the Port of Entry are going to see that individual and they are going to be able to make an assessment based on their discretion as to whether or not that individual should be readmitted into the Kingdom but as a practical matter multi-entry visa holders generally speaking unless there was some other underlying issues, or there was some issue with respect to their past status, or they had some sort of pending criminal case, multi-entry visa holders were traditionally allowed in with relatively little hassle and again they were allowed in and allowed long-term lawful status in the Kingdom with relatively little oversight and I think this is the reason we are seeing a slow but in my opinion, inexorable decline of multi-entry O visa issuance moving forward.